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Thursday, January 17, 2013

"There are two certainties in life: death and taxes" said Benjamin Franklin. "There are two certainties in life: bland diet foods and failure" says me. When it comes to dieting everything assumes that, in order to lose weight, one must eat things that taste like cardboard. Well I am here to tell you that is NOT TRUE!

Since my Cinchspiration challenge ended, I have been maintaining my weight loss by following Tim Ferriss' Slow Carb Diet. He encourages you not to eat dairy, fruit, sugar, grains (white or not) and to eat lots of beans, legumes, meat and veggies. I am really trying to focus on the things that I can eat rather than the foods that I cannot.

In the past two weeks I have eaten some AMAZINGLY flavorful slow carb meals thanks to two of my new favorite homemade condiments: cilantro walnut pesto and mayonnaise. I have been showing pictures of my meals on Facebook and my friends and family have been begging for recipes so here goes:

Cilantro Walnut Pesto

1 1/4 c (packed) cilantro

1/2c Olive Oil

2 garlic cloves

1/2 jalepano (with seeds/ribs)

2T yellow bell pepper

2T chopped white onion

1/4c walnuts

Add a pinch of cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and cumin while blending.

Add all ingredients to your food processor and blend until smooth. Store in a air tight container and spoon over anything! Its that amazing.

Here is my breakfast of refried black beans topped with over-easy eggs and pulled pork. I drizzled cilantro walnut pesto and habenero tabasco over the whole thing and it was marvelous!

Homemade Mayonnaise

(adapted from Ann Burell)

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Kosher salt

1 1/2 cups neutrally flavored oil (vegetable, canola, peanut)

Directions

Place the egg yolks in the bowl of the food processor and add the vinegar and mustard. Season with salt, to taste. Turn the machine on and VERY slowly start to drizzle in the oil. Drip, drip, drip until the mixture starts to look like mayonnaise, then a slow steady stream of oil can be added.

To make the mayo you see on top of my taco meat/over-easy egg breakfast: combine cayenne pepper, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder and cumin and mix into as much mayo as you need. I used a few dashes of each spice for a 2T serving.

Literally, these two items can be used to take any bland food on a ride on the flavor train! Enjoy!